21 March : International Day of Forests. Tune in!

Wood is considered humankind’s very first source of energy. Today it is still the most important single source of renewable energy providing about 6% of the global total primary energy supply. More than two billion people depend on wood energy for cooking and/or heating... Private households’ cooking and heating with woodfuels represents one third of the global renewable energy consumption, making wood the most decentralized energy in the world(Wood Energy - FAO).

2. Ensure the financial viability of a green charcoal value chain by improving tenure arrangements and legal access to resources for growing and purchasing wood and other biomass for charcoal production, generating evidence-based assessments of the benefits of a green charcoal value chain for national economies, putting a fair price on wood resources, incentivizing sustainable practices, and attracting investments for the transition to a green charcoal value chain.

3. Develop comprehensive national policy frameworks for the sustainable management of the charcoal value chain and integrate charcoal into wider efforts across sectors to mitigate climate change, including by making the charcoal value chain a specific component of NDCs.

4. Support national governments and other stakeholders in their efforts to green the charcoal value chain by contributing to research in the following areas:

• systematic life-cycle assessments of the charcoal value chain in the main charcoal-producing countries;

• systematic data on GHG emissions in the various stages of the charcoal value chain;

• the role of charcoal production in deforestation and forest degradation, including in combination with other deforestation and forest degradation drivers in the vicinity of cities; and

• the socio-economic and environmental outcomes and trade-offs of a green charcoal value chain at the local, subnational, national and regional levels.

5. Disseminate the lessons learned from pilot projects, success stories and research that take into account the entire charcoal value chain.

# The UN-REDD Programme: supports partner countries in integrating biodiversity and other forest benefits into their planning, and in developing country approaches to safeguards and safeguards information.